BCC announces a computer called Alex

The Broadband Computer Company has announced an easy-to-use 15-inch laptop aimed at people who aren't very good with technology, and with it a manifesto of five "clear computing" points that it reckons makes life a whole lot easier. The computer's name is Alex.

Alex comes with a "latchkey" - a USB stick without which the laptop won't operate. When you plug it in, it logs you on to a custom operating system that includes web access, email, an address book, a media player, a photo editor and a photo viewer. There's also word processing and spreadsheet applications that are compatible with Microsoft Office documents.

BCC's manifesto lists the following "clear computing" points. Your computer will be up and running within an hour of setting it up, you'll never have to update software or antivirus yourself, you'll never get an incomprehensible error message, you can store your files in a secure space on the Web without extra fees, and two forms of authentication are required to log you on - i.e. it's pretty secure.

The company offers two packages - one with broadband and one without. No specs for the laptops are provided, but from the descriptions given it sounds like the software is a custom Linux build of some sort. Pricing runs to £400 for the laptop plus £25 monthly for broadband included, or £10 per month without broadband. That gets you over-the-air software updates and online file storage.

As you're reading Pocket-lint, we presume this isn't a product that's targeted at you. Would you buy it for a relative, though? Or would you teach them how to use a regular computer and save some cash? Let us know what you reckon to Alex in the comments.